This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The first portion of this absurdly-long, eventful road trip is nearly over. Real Salt Lake is scheduled to land sometime around midnight Wednesday night, or Thursday morning, putting an end to a six-day trek from Salt Lake City to Washington D.C. to Atlanta to Guatemala City and all the way back to the Wasatch Front.

Like much of the 2015 campaign, two varying RSL sides were displayed in the first half of this trip. The historic loss against Alvaro Saborio, Fabian Espindola and D.C. United at RFK Stadium Saturday night might be the anomaly of the season: Going up 2-0, conceding three straight goals, tying it up twice before eventually conceding two in the last 10 minutes.

The highest-scoring game in RSL history was the start to the road trip that featured two road matches against the best team in MLS as well as the start to CONCACAF Champions League and the still-looming U.S. Open Cup semifinal on Aug. 12 at Sporting Kansas City.

Score four goals on the road and concede six. Lots of good and plenty of bad.

To RSL's credit — the same way it did following the July 11 collapse in Colorado — the club responded. This particular response, a 1-0 win over C.S.D. Municipal in Guatemala City Tuesday night, was clearly more difficult than trying to overcome the heartburn of three weeks ago with back-to-back wins at home with down time to prepare. RSL did that against Houston and then Sporting KC after the 3-1 loss at Colorado.

In Tuesday's 1-0 win at Municipal, the club exorcised some demons raised in D.C.

Protecting a lead » This time, a second-minute goal from Joao Plata stuck. (More on him later). Against a team it barely knew and couldn't scout all that well due to a confluence of personnel changes, RSL held its own.

Fires were raised, as they typically do in Champions League road games. But RSL extinguished them. It was by no means pretty, attractive soccer, but it rarely is, especially in these circumstances. Think of this: Who would have thought in March that both Aaron Maund and Elias Vasquez would be starting at center back when RSL made its CCL return?

"It was important for us to show a good response tonight," RSL captain Kyle Beckerman said. "I think we needed to really get back to the basics of defending and I think that was on everyone's mind tonight, especially in this tournament."

And how about Olmes Garcia's heroic track-back and challenge in the box in the 92nd minute? Those are the small, individual efforts that RSL needs over the next few months in order to challenge for a playoff spot as well as advance in CCL and U.S. Open Cup.

Rimando returns » Nearly a scratch in the MLS All-Star Game Wednesday in Commerce City, Colo., Nick Rimando continued to deal with a lingering knee injury he picked up the final day of training with the U.S. men's national team. The 36-year-old rejoined RSL after a stellar performance in goal against Tottenham Hotspur, but did not play in the 6-4 loss in D.C.

RSL coach Jeff Cassar said he spoke to Rimando Tuesday morning about his availability.

"He was doing everything humanly-possible just to get ready for this game," Cassar said. "So hats off to him. Then he comes in and makes that huge, huge save in the first half off of Carlos Ruiz's free kick, which really kept us in the game. [That] could've been a turning point."

Rimando's CCL shutout streak extends to 436 minutes dating back to July 2012 match against Costa Rican club Herediano.

Plata's sizzling on hot streak » All he needed was one. That's what Cassar, Javier Morales and Luke Mulholland said when asked how to get Joao Plata, who missed the first four months of the season with a foot fracture, back on track. Since Joao Plata scored his first league goal in the 2-0 win over Houston on July 18, he hasn't slowed.

He's scored a goal in four consecutive games. Plata's second-minute goal at Municipal was his second game-winner in the last two weeks after burying a late penalty kick against Sporting KC on July 24.

"For me personally, it's great for me because all the forwards score and it's good for the team," he said Tuesday. "Winning away, that's important for us."

"We all are behind Plata 100 percent and he works hard," Beckerman added. "It's great to see him getting rewarded now, and I think he's finding his groove at the right time and we're going to continue feeding him and he'll get the job done."

Luis Gil, DNP » When the lineups were released an hour before RSL's eventual win in Guatemala City, Luis Gil's name didn't surface — in the starting XI or on the bench. Instead, attackers Luis Silva, Sebastian Saucedo and Devon Sandoval were in the RSL 18.

Gil was a healthy scratch, according to an RSL team spokesman.

With the summer transfer window and MLS trade window closing Thursday at 3 p.m. MDT, theories began flooding social media as to why Gil, who traveled on the trip to D.C. and Guatemala, would suddenly be a DNP-coach's decision. The 21-year-old RSL midfielder spoke to the Tribune last week about his future with the club as his contract expires at the end of the year. RSL technical director Craig Waibel said the club has offered Gil an extension.

RSL second in USOC final draw » It's simple — kinda. If RSL beats Sporting KC in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal on Aug. 12, it has a 50-percent shot at hosting the final. It's all contingent on what happens in the other semifinal between the Chicago Fire and Philadelphia Union.

U.S. Soccer held its draw to determine the priority host order for the 2015 U.S. Open Cup final Wednesday morning. Four clubs in four envelopes, with hosting priority determined in chronological order.

The Fire were picked first.

RSL was chosen second.

Philadelphia was third.

Sporting KC was picked fourth.

» If RSL and Chicago win their respective USOC semifinal matches, RSL will travel to Chicago for the Open Cup final on Wednesday, Sept. 30.

» If RSL and Philadelphia win their respective USOC semifinal matches, RSL will host the Union in the Open Cup final on Wednesday, Sept. 30.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani